MANDATA - Under any circumstances, a Benton-Line Mountain dual meet would be well worth seeing.
With the shadow of the Zain Retherford transfer case between the schools looming over it, the meet became even more interesting.
Retherford, the former Line Mountain state champion who transferred to Benton last summer and has been declared ineligible to wrestle this season, was on the bench with his new teammates Tuesday, but watched his former teammates take a 46-21 win in a meet that was scheduled months
ago, long before Retherford's transfer became an issue. Line Mountain is 1-1 and Benton dropped to 0-2.
The atmosphere in Line Mountain's gym was strangely anticlimactic, however, right from the start. Benton, in addition to not having Retherford available, also didn't have two-time state placewinner Colt Cotten, who was sitting out because of disciplinary reasons. He spent his night taping the bouts.
"I think everybody is glad it's over," said Line Mountain head coach Mike Martz, when asked if his team had any special incentive for the match. "We're obviously an older team than they are in terms of experience, but Coach Hughes (Benton coach Russ Hughes) always has his guys in shape, and we knew even their young kids would be tough."
Benton forfeited two bouts, and the rest of the Tigers' lineup featured four freshmen and three sophomores.
"I really think they lost a lot without Cotten in the lineup. The whole dynamic of the match changed," Martz said.
Cotten probably would have wrestled at either 132 or 138, and probably would have gone against either Mason Zimmerman, a regional qualifier last season, or Seth Lansberry, a state qualifier.
As it was, the match opened at 138 with Lansberry pinning Benton junior Nick Correll, who was wrestling for the first time this season, in 12 seconds.
"Seth set the tone with that," Martz said.
Interestingly, the most competitive bout of the match came next, in a bout featuring two wrestlers with a combined record of 0-6. Benton sophomore Brad Miccio took a 4-1 first-period lead and held off a late charge by Line Mountain's Jordan Specht for a 6-5 win.
Two-time state qualifier Adam Kritzer of Line Mountain took a 4-0 win at 152 over Jeric Kasunic, another Benton regional qualifier.
"Kasunic's a tough kid," said Martz. "He wrestled Adam tough last year."
Kritzer may also be getting used to a heavy mask he is wearing to prevent facial cuts.
The Eagles built their lead to 16-3 with a 5-1 decision at 160 by Cody Rebuck and a 16-2 major decision by Britton Heim at 170.
Benton cut the lead to 16-12 on a 6-2 win freshman Logam Womelsdorf at 182 and a 46-second pin by regional qualifier Jake Mankey at 195.
But Line Mountain scored 24 unanswered points on pins by Anthony Peipler and Kenny Rothermel at 220 and 295, respectively, and forfeit wins for Cameron Newman and Ethan Marquette-Hulsizer at 106 and 113, respectively.
Line Mountain freshman Blake Carl had a 29-second pin over sophomore Lenny Hazlak at 126 for his first varsity win before the match closed with a very good bout between Zimmerman and Brandon Lontz, a returning regional qualifier, at 132. Lontz took a 4-2 win.
"We bumped Mason up because we wanted him to get a good match, and he did." said Martz. "Lontz is a tough kid. We can be a very good dual meet team if we get good matchups and stay away from big moves."
138 - Seth Lansberry, LM, pinned Nick Correll, :12 (6-0); 145 - Brad Miccio, B, dec. Jordan Specht, 6-5 (6-3); 152 - Adam Kritzer, LM, dec. Jeric Kasunic, 4-0 (9-3); 160 - Cody Rebuck, LM, dec. Matt Zawatski, 5-1 (12-3); 170 - Britton Heim, LM, maj. dec. Marcus Welliver, 16-2 (16-3); 182 - Logan Womelsdorf, B, dec. Erik Smeltz, 6-2 (16-6); 195 - Jake Mankey, B, pinned Rayce Boyer, :46 (16-12); 220 - Anthony Peipher, LM, pinned Blake Bogert, 1:57 (22-12); 285 - Kenny Rothermel, LM, pinned Anthony Davis, 1:02 (28-12); 106 - Cameron Newman, LM, won by forfeit (34-12); 113 - Ethan Marquette-Hulsizer, LM, won by forfeit (40-12); 120 - Matt Welliver, B, pinned Mark Harner, 2:44 (40-18); 126 - Blake Carl, LM, pinned Lenny Hazlak, :29 (46-18); 132 - Brandon Lontz, B, dec. Mason Zimmerman, 4-2 (46-21).